The Return of the Phantom

Power Surge

Do you ever wake in the morning like you're about to burst at the seams? Like an unexplainable surge of vitality making you fly about the room as if you were crackling with electricity? Yeah me neither. But that's how Danny felt when he woke up that morning.

As soon as his alarm went off, Danny sprang out of bed like he was intoxicated with caffeine (or some other non-illegal, stimulating drug). He came up so hard he jolted Sam awake. Her immediate response was to slap him, and he yelped with pain before readily apologizing.

"S-sorry, Sam! Just feeling a little peppy this morning!"

Sam groaned and rolled back over. "Ugh...Danny... you sound so....cheerful. Please stop." Then she turned back towards him, eyes widening. "And did you just say peppy?"

Danny simply shrugged in response, grinning like an idiot. He sauntered out of the bedroom, with such a bounce in his step he felt like he was ten years old again. Wherever this newfound energy was coming from, he might as well enjoy it.

Starting to walk down to Jackson's room, he turned on a heel and headed in the opposite direction. That's right. Jackson threw up last night. Which probably means he wouldn't be going to school today. So he just got ready for the day downstairs. Alone, but that was fine. Especially when for some weird reason, when he went to sit and eat breakfast, he fell through the chair. Scratching his head, he regarded the chair suspiciously.

Usually he had a decent grasp on his intangibility; but then again he could just be having an off morning. Then he realized, as he grabbed his spoon, that he was facing another dilemma. He scooped up the cereal into his spoon, then, with an odd buzzing sensation, making his hand feel numb, the spoon turned intangible, and with a sploosh, the cereal fell back into the bowl. He tried again, frowning, but this time, only his hand turned intangible, and with a clang, the entire spoon fell into the bowl. Sighing dejectedly, he lightly dabbed at the mess on the table with a napkin.

After the tenth time watching his cereal splash back into the bowl, Sam came downstairs, following Lily, who was sliding down each stair on her butt, making progress slow.

Sam couldn't help but smirk at her now melancholy husband. "What happened to 'feeling peppy?'"

Danny didn't need to say anything but grumpily try to take a spoonful of cereal, until once again the spoon took on the consistency of air and the cereal returned to its soggy home.

"Well that's not good." Sam commented dryly, grabbing three bananas from the cabinet. She handed them each to Lily and Danny in turn, saving the last for herself. Taking a large bite, she gestured encouragingly to Danny's banana. He eyed warily, as if it were going to disappear or start floating or something. Sam nodded toward it again, with a bemused smile, as it to say, It couldn't hurt to try.

Little by little, he peeled the banana. Eyes locked with Sam's, he slowly took a bite. He was pleasantly surprised. "It's...good."

"It's a banana. Of course it's good." Was Sam's confident response. Sitting across from Danny, she leaned on one elbow, slightly concerned. "Do you think you should skip work today? I mean, if that happened during class-" She gestured toward the abandoned cereal... "-It would be better to stay home."

Danny shook his head, a little too quickly, taking another bite of banana. "No, it'll be fine. I mean... it's probably just some fluke. It's early, you know. It'll pass."

"But it could work. I'd be missing work anyway staying home with Jackson, but it could be you instead."

"Seriously. I'm good. I mean, I'm fine. I don't want to call in on such short notice. They're pretty strict about that."